Pop the Champagne: AFGE Makes History by Reaching 300,000 Members

October 30, 2015

After decades of strategic planning and hard work, the day has finally come. On October 26th, 2015,AFGE’s membership hit a record-high 300,000 members – a historic milestone that caps 24 consecutive years of membership growth. This is a one of the most remarkable achievements in our union’s more than 80 years of existence, especially in light of the continued threats to labor unions.

AFGE thanks our members for helping make it happen. Please join the celebration with our 300,000 Celebration Toolkit at www.afge.org/300kstrong.

So how did we reach the 300,000 mark? As it turns out, the most effective recruiting tool AFGE has is not our technology, but our people; members talking to their coworkers about the importance of working together as one. AFGE, and the entire labor movement for that matter, depend on every one of us playing this simple but vital role to grow and prosper.

Let’s put it this way: If every AFGE member asks at least one of their co-workers to join, AFGE will double our membership overnight. That’s the power of one-on-one conversations and communications. It’s been proven time and again that a simple ask does the trick. Our members have been telling us for years that they joined simply because we asked them to.

“There is no replacement for a good face-to-face conversation. Not emails. Not flyers. Not social media,” said AFGE Membership and Organization Director Bill Lyons. “AFGE has been growing the past 24 years because we engage potential members face to face.”

“Being a union member means looking out for everyone in the workplace, not just your own self-interests. It’s about lifting up those individuals whose voices are otherwise silenced,” AFGE President J. David Cox Sr. said. “It’s about joining together in solidarity to fight for better working conditions not just in your own workplace but in workplaces across the country and around the world.”